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I once broke a bone in my elbow, except the doctor said it was a strain and told me to rest it and then rehab it.

After the pain got worse, a second doctor told me the same thing.

When it STILL got worse, a third doctor said it was fractured — after looking at the SAME X-RAY as the first two doctors!

You’d like to think this was rare… that it could never happen to you… and that YOUR doc couldn’t possibly botch a simple everyday diagnosis.

Yes, you’d like to think that — but new research shows how odds are, you’d be WRONG!

Turns out many docs are more clueless than Inspector Clouseau, routinely muffing up basic diagnoses and treatments.

Doctors at the Mayo Clinic examined nearly 300 patients who had first seen their own doctors and found nearly 88 percent were the victims of screw-ups.

Just 12 percent had been given a completely correct diagnosis.

In 21 percent of the cases — more than one in five patients — the first doctor’s diagnosis wasn’t even close.

It was COMPLETELY wrong, and the Mayo Clinic had to give the patient an entirely new diagnosis.

In the other 66 percent of the cases, the docs were only kinda-sorta right, getting at least SOME part of the diagnosis wrong.

This isn’t horseshoes OR hand grenades. Close doesn’t count when it comes to your health.

If your doc’s even a little wrong, you could be sicker for longer… get worse … or suffer needlessly with a condition that could’ve been quickly treated IF he knew what he was dealing with from the get-go.

I know what you might be thinking.

Not MY doctor! If he were this bad, I’d sure as heck be able to figure it out, right?

Well… maybe not.

Remember that many common conditions, from pain to infection, cure themselves over time — sometimes, in a matter of days.

If you had seen your doc and he gave you a med or some other treatment, you might THINK he’s the reason you got better.

WOW! It worked!!!

In reality, your own body may have taken care of it — and that med didn’t do squat except maybe give you diarrhea.

So, what does this mean for you? Like those old hippie bumper stickers used to read: QUESTION EVERYTHING.

You don’t have to turn yourself into a pain in the you-know-what at the doctor’s office, but you DO have to pepper him with questions until you’re satisfied he’s dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s.

And if, like with my elbow, you find it’s not getting better, don’t be shy about getting a second or even third opinion.

As I sure found out the hard way, sometimes that third time really is the charm!

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